Islamabad: Pakistan ruled out holding talks with militants after the Afghan Taliban authorities asked Islamabad and the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) to sit together and negotiate for peace as violence, due to their fighting, was spreading to Afghanistan.
Past attempts by the Afghan interim regime to facilitate talks between the two sides had ended in deadlock, prompting Islamabad to accuse Kabul of providing sanctuary to TTP, a charge strenuously denied by the Taliban rulers.
While urging Pakistan and TTP to end their war through talks, Afghanistan deputy home minister Mohammad Nabi Omari had warned that fighting in Pakistan was also creating problems for his country. “The flames of war in Pakistan are reaching Afghanistan,” Omari said, warning Islamabad that it cannot win this war (against militants). “It doesn’t matter if a country’s army is a million or 10 million, it is our experience that you (Pakistan) cannot win this war, ” Omari said. “Therefore, we ask the govt of Pakistan and advise the brothers (TTP) who are fighting with them to come together and talk (sic),” he added.
Kabul has been privately urging Pakistan and TTP to engage in direct negotiations. But this marks the first time that a senior Afghan Taliban figure has chosen to publicly speak on the subject.
Ruling out any engagement with the TTP, Pakistan foreign office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said Islamabad expected Afghan authorities to take urgent action against terrorist outfits and their leadership for the crimes they were committing and the terrorist incidents they were responsible for in Pakistan. She added that Pakistan remained committed to fighting against all terrorist outfits which had targeted Pakistan and symbols of Pakistan-China friendship.
